Tough Choices
by Baka McGee
Summary: Naruto is forced to make a terrible decision. He must abandon Konoha to save Konoha.
1. Death is not always an option

Tough Choices

Chapter 1: Dying isn't the only sacrifice shinobi must make.

"Crap...huff huff huff...crap crap DAMMIT!" Naruto cried out as he tripped on a branch due to chakra exhaustion. His body screaming out in pain against him as all the unhealed minor cuts and bruises accumulate against him. Just earlier that morning he had from the Akatsuki while he and his team were returning from a mission earlier that week. They held him down whilst attempting to remove the kyuubi from him in their hidden lair. Thankfully Kakashis most reliable nin dog Pakkun had been able to follow him to their temporary hideout which allowed Tsunade and Jiraiya the chance to lead a strike force to recapture Naruto. The team Consisted of, aside from the Sannin, 4 strike forces of Anbu, Kakashi, Gai, Sakura and the 2 Sannin along with any allied hunternin from other natios who would be stationed outside to stop their respective criminals from fleeing once Naruto had been secured. 

Unbeknownst to them Sasuke was leading his own little strike force of Kabuto and the newly formed sound four to try and take out Itachi. The sound 4 were to erect a barrier enclosing the 2 Uchiha while Kabuto was to make sure that Sasuke did not die before Orochimaru could take his body. Unsurprisingly Orochimaru was following the group secretly himself to insure that Sasuke did not do anything stupid and to jump in should it seem Sasuke should lose.

As fate would have it these 2 groups came upon eachother outside of the entrance to the Akatsukis hideout. Before a fight could breakout, Tsunade noticed Sasuke's presence and informed him that they would not get in the way of his mission should they not get in the way of theirs. They agreed and, still not noticing Orochimaru, they ventured into the cave. 

The plan for the Konoha forces were simple. The 2 Sannin and 3 of the 4 forces of ANBU were to engage the enemy while leaving Itachi to the sound forces. The last group of ANBU were to cover the rear and their escape. Gai and Kakashi, being their fastest and best fighters were told to engage the Akatsuki until they could get ahold of Naruto. Once he had been secured Tsunade, Gai and Pakkun would leave and tend to Naruto leaving Kakashi in charge of their forces. Sakura was meant to stay with the last group of Anbu at the rear and to heal any allies who needed it and not to engage the enemy.

Needless to say the plan did not exactly go off without a hitch. It took 3 hours of fighting lackies being lead by Zetsu just to get to the chamber whereupon the true battle commenced. The chamber was 100 meters high and about a mile wide on both sides with 1/3 of it being taken up by the seal holding Naruto. The battle was quite surreal with black clad ANBU members battling the S class criminal around a large seal holding onto a non stop screaming Naruto while off near the entrance stood a large purple box containing Sasukes and Itachi's fight. All the while Jiraiya and Tsunade were slowly making progress towards Naruto and the seal. The plan came to a fault when Gai became too injured to carry Naruto when he was caught in the backlash of one of Deidara's explosions. With half of the ANBU killed off Tsunade realised that she can't afford to run off with Naruto to make sure he was all right so she called up the last group of ANBU to join the fray, patched up Gai, and handed Naruto off with pakkun to Sakura and told to make a run for it. 

Before Sakura could make it to the entrance the barrier was lifted revealing 4 chakra exhausted sound nins and Itachi standing over an exhausted and nearly dead Sasuke. Before he could land the final blow Orochimarus tongue shot out of the ground, wrapped around Itachis feet and pulled him under. Taking advantage of the fact that Kabuto was currently occupied with Kisame, Sakura ran in and with her monstrous strength flung Sasuke over her other shoulder and ran out the entrance. 

Once realising that Sakura had enough time to get sufficiently far enough away, Tsunade called for a retreat of her remaining forces and to leave the remaining members to the hunternin. What she did not know is that shortly after leaving the hideout Sakura went to ground no less that 300 meters away due to needing to treat Sasukes injuries. Thus Konohas forces ran past them hoping to catch up to them. When The last of Konohas forces left the hideout the hunternin then began to engage the 6 remaining members of Akatsuki who were fleeing the scene. Meanwhile Naruto regained consciousness and with the help of Sakura left their hiding place to catch up to the rest of Konohas forces. Sadly this was not to be for the moment they came out of hiding Orochimaru confronted them demanding Sasuke back.

Naturally Naruto screamed and declared to never forgive him for what he did to Sasuke. Then he told Sakura to take Sasuke back to Tsunade and to get help while he holds him off. Under normal circumstances this would have been a good idea except for one minor detail, Kyuubi would have none of it. The reason why Kyuubi suddenly wanted Naruto dead was simple, while trying to extract Kyuubi, Akatsuki had damaged the part of the seal that would bind his essence to Naruto upon death. Thus at that moment he was gonna do anything it took to get him killed. So during their fight, when Naruto took a few too many wounds and began to get tired from chakra exhaustion sooner than usual he ran for it. That's why no one can blame him if he's a little cranky due to today not exactly going his way.

"ku ku ku, why Naruto-kun I thought you promised to kill me, wasn't that your ninja way?" Mocked Orochimaru as he watched Naruto stumble through the forest. Naruto was too busy trying to catch his breath to give him a reply as he came to a stop. 

"If I didn't know any better someone could think that you didn't enjoy my company ku ku ku." Stated Orochimaru sarcastically. 'I gotta keep him talking, need to buy time for Sakura to get some help. Dammit, the fur ball isn't giving me any chakra and I can't talk to him either, what is wrong with him.'

"I have no clue what could give you that idea. You know I always wondered why you ran away from Konoha. Was it because Jiraiya rejected you? I know he is a man whore but it's not you he just doesn't swing that way." Naruto replied. 

"... enough Naruto-kun. I think you may have realised something interesting. I notice that you have yet to use any of the kyuubis vast stores of chakra, that and none of your minor cuts or wounds have healed yet. I wonder, why is that?" asked Orochimaru.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Stated Naruto quickly. 'Crap, does he know something I don't?' thought Naruto. 

"I think I know why. Thanks to my rather unique perspective I believe I know exactly why and I find it rather delicious to contemplate all the possibilities." Chuckled Orochimaru evilly. "All of which you would most definetly whole hearted disagree with."

'Oh no this is not sounding too good...' thought Naruto. "Stop screwing with me and just come out and say it already! Dammit you're worse than Ero-Sennin when he's describing how great he is!" Yelled Naruto fiercely.

"Oh my what a temper you have there Naruto-kun. Alright I'll tell you. From where I am standing I can see that something has happened to that seal on your stomach. See how the inner most portion has faded away? Well I think since Akatsuki could never finish the unsealing, what happened is that the portion of the seal that would bind the Kyuubis soul to you upon death has been destroyed." Said Orochimaru.

"So?" Asked Naruto simply, not caring for the direction that the conversation has taken.

"My you're even denser than Sasuke-kun described you, and trust me he had some very choice words for you ku ku ku. What I mean is that once you die the Kyuubi will be released instead of dying with you." Orochimaru smirked after saying this as he watched realization dawn upon the energetic blond.

"Shit." Was all Naruto could say. His thoughts, however, were in turmoil as he looked down to check out his seal as he channeled some chakra. 'It just can't be true. But it all makes so much sense, why my wounds still haven't healed, why I can't summon demon chakra or even talk to that flea bitten mutt, I bet that sadistic fox is even slowing down my healing, is a cut supposed to bleed for that long?'

The silence was so thick it was stifling, Naruto could barely breathe. Naturally Orochimaru broke the forced silence first.

"Usually I am all for the destruction of Konoha and wouldn't mind releasing Kyuubi one bit, but I have a better idea for you. Swear loyalty to me and I will fix the damage that Akatsuki has foolishly wrought upon your body. Refuse and..." Even before finishing the sentence Naruto felt a blade rest lightly against his throat and saw that Kurasanag,i the tongue held sword of Orochimarus, was pointed directly at his chest eager to impale him. If he hadn't been so distracted and disoriented from chakra depletion and what Orochimaru was saying he might have noticed the sword coming his way. If what Orochimaru was saying was true it would not have mattered either way. "I will not hesitate kill you and seal Konoha's fate with you."

"You bastard!" Chocked out Naruto as he felt the kunai press ever deeper into the flesh of his neck. 'This can't be happening. no no no no SHIT no no no. Dammit why! WHY!' Thought Naruto desperately.

"Well Naruto? What will it be? Oh and I know what you are thinking and no, once I apply my seals to complete the binding of your souls, I can have it removed at will or upon my death my chakra will no longer be able to support it. So there will be no turning back from this point. Your choice. Oh and might I mention your time is running out? you have two minutes to think it over."

"Oh kami what is it up with my day? First akatsuki capture me and Kyuubi and now you wanna release it. Know what I want? I just wanted some FUCKING RAMEN! And then this shit happens. Dammit stop it with the sword I need time to think!." Screamed out Naruto. 

'Well at least we know he is no mind reader because I was not thinking anything near to what he said. Well Naruto looks like you're gonna have everyone hate you for another reason now. This sucks so bad, why is it always me? Why did I have to get the kyuubi sealed into me? Where's my legions of fangirls? Man I am still so jealous of Sasuke. Still can't believe he ran off to this creep though, if I was him I would have just announced to marry the first girl who brought me back Itachi's head, heck I would even marry the girls who helped! He never was a bright one that Sasuke. Jeez I am running out of time and I still haven't figured a way out of this yet. Well I guess I'll make him the deal then. Let's see if I can get some breathing room in this deal though.' Thought Naruto resignedly.

"Okay but I refuse to attack my friends for any reason!" declared Naruto.

"Ku ku ku you aren't in any condition to make demands of me Naruto-kun. Since I am feeling a little playful now after having my vessel stolen I'll allow one concession on my part. You may choose 1 nation that you need never attack it or it's inhabitants. Naturally should they ever interfere with your missions or invade or attack my person you are to deal with them, harshly." Said Orochimaru.

'Well that's better than I hoped for.' thought Naruto dryly. 'Well this is it. All that hard work, all of my friends, and it's gonna be all gone because of that damn fox isn't it? I'm not like Sasuke, I don't have some cherished bloodline that'll let me just waltz back in to Konoha cus they want it, no I have Kyuubi and it's something they don't want. At least the villagers will be satisfied with my betrayal, but I am gonna let down all my precious people; Obaa-chan, Ero-Sennin, Iruka, and... Oh crap Sakura-chan is gonna kill me! Wait a second, that would be a good thing wouldn't it? I wasn't strong enough to not get caught by Akatsuki and now I can't even stop myself from becoming Orochimaru's bitch!'

"Deal. I swear allegiance to the sound until the day I die because that is my ninja way!" Declared Naruto sadly.

"Well Naruto-kun, follow me because your new life starts today." And with that he began to walk away while his earth clone turned back into dirt.

Naruto stood there for a few moments absorbing what had just happened. Then his once bright blue eyes looked downcast and clouded over slightly with pain once realisation dawned upon him. Knowing he was still being watched from the shadows Naruto whispered a silent "I'm sorry." Then ran to catch up with his new master.

Author's note: Okay I fixed up this chapter with grammar and spelling. I do not have spellcheck but luckily the only spelling errors I make are typos usually. Still if you could help revise it or add in your review a paragraph I should look at that would be grand. I do plan on doing perhaps one more chapter from Narutos point of view but it will probably be to further the story or to keep up to date on his emotions. 


	2. Mission failure?

Chapter 2: Mission failure?

4 days later in the Hokages office.

"Tsunade-hime there is no need to get so distressed. I am sure that Naruto will turn up. He probably had to flee farther to get away from Orochimaru. We haven't found a body, and there was barely any evidence of a major struggle. You know the damage Naruto can cause if he ever gets cornered. I have faith that he has a damn good reason too. Like Naruto would ever give us enough time to get our thoughts straight without his constant yelling in our ears." Stated Jiraiya calmly.

"Jiraiya you don't know what damage Akatsuki could have done to that seal. On top of that who knows how much Orochimaru could have grown. There's a good chance that Naruto could have been cut off from kyuubis chakra or just collapsed from the strain of that day's events and Orochimaru killed him and took the body off for study. I dare say it's not too often he got to study a boy like Naruto." Kakashi replied grimly, Jiraiya and Tsunade could sense the strain of his voice as he thought of losing one of his students all over again to that snake bastard.

"I just don't know what to do. It's just so unlike Naruto for him to up and vanish. Usually there are craters everywhere. You saw what happened when Akatsuki picked him up. The was a crater every 5 miles about half way there until they finally managed to secure him properly." Chuckled Tsunade lightly.

"Yeah, Pakkun told me he didn't even need his nose to follow he just needed his ears it was so loud. But remember, Pakkun did pick up Narutos scent and it seemed like he was heading towards the sound before it disappeared along with Orochimarus." Again Kakashi's voice strained at the unspoken end to Konoha's number one loudest ninja.

"The council is all up in arms over this. They want him found soon and some are even considering naming him a missing nin already. Can you believe that? It took me a whole week to convince the council to name Sasuke a missing nin and then he was only given a B rank. If Naruto gets it he will be made S-class for sure. Sarutobis old team mates want to send out ANBU to hunt him down and then place him under permanent lock down once he does get back. That last stint with Akatsuki was too close for them. They want their trump card safely stowed away until they can use him. To top it all off I still don't know what to do with Sasuke." Tsunades weariness was beginning to overcome her when she absent mindedly reached for her bottle of Sake Shizune left her when she heard Jiraiya was gonna meet her.

"At least you won't have to fight the council over it. Unless you sentence him to death of course. He is the last Uchiha after what happened. How do you think he'll take it when he finds out Kabuto was the one who eventually killed him? Not just that but all he did was stab him from behind during those 3 seconds while he was fighting Orochimaru." Jiraiya was actually finding what Kakashi had just said kind of funny, but he didn't laugh since he too was still kind of worried over Naruto.

"I understand the importance of his bloodline. But it's not like we can just turn him into breedingstock. It's not morally acceptable and no I will NOT turn you into breedingstock Jiraiya so stop looking at me like that. Of course even after his defection he still has a fairly sizeable fan club along with many families who would be willing to do this to get the Sharingan even if they have to raise it out of wedlock. Luckily the council is fractured over this so I have time to consider it. What I am running out on is time to find Naruto. You guys have anymore ideas on what to do?" Tsunade said this with a hint of desperation in her voice. "I...I just can't... just can't afford to lose him again. I can't believe we went through all that just to lose him at the last moment."

"Tsunade-hime, don't worry, this is Naruto we are talking about here. I'll go check out my informants just to see if Akatsuki managed to get their hands on him again just in case. 4 of them did escape. What I think you need is to send a team that is specialized in tracking that can spend more time tracking him down. The ANBU just don't have the man power to stage a search for that long after that battle. we did lose quite a few." Jiraiya replied soothingly, attempting to help her stop worrying.

"Kurenai's old team is available, and Shino did make Jounin recently. What I am worried of is if Naruto has lost control or is being controlled somehow that they won't be able to capture him. Shino doesn't have enough bugs to absorb his amount of chakra and Closing off his tenketsu would not be too effective either. We could send for one of the sands puppeteers and in conjunction with a medic nin they could devise and deliver a poison potent enough to knock him out until we get him back. I would send you Kakashi but I need you and Sakura to keep an eye on Sasuke as I still consider him a flight risk." Said Tsunade.

"Tsunade, what about Asumas old team? Their skills are very well suited to capture and Shikamaru has proven himself a very capable leader in the past. Perhaps we could use this mission to study how effective he would be to become a jounin. You may not have heard of this since it is a sore point for many of the more skilled shinobi, but before Naruto was even a genin he was capable of evading pursuit of many jounin for several hours before he was captured. It was so difficult Sarutobi actually made it an A rank mission after each of his pranks. Thanks to that it allowed Umino Iruka to accumulate enough money to eventually buy himself a house since he usually found him." giggled Kakashi.

"Hm, the Akimichi and the Nara would be useful but not the Yamanaka. If she used her families jutsu on him who knows what might happen with all the trauma Naruto has suffered and not to mention the kyuubi. I could use Neji on this but he is already on another A rank mission involving the sound. With so few Jounin Hyuuga to spare I'll have to settle for a team of Chunnin to find him for now. I would send Shino too but I can't really spare any jounins as it is right now what with the Sound becoming a greater threat and still needing to wrap up any remaining Akatsuki members. I'll make sure to get them a powerful sedative that they can administer to Naruto. That is neither here nor there however so I will send out Kurenai's team immediately then for a purely reconnaissance mission. They will have orders not to engage him at all if they do encounter him. They will be ordered to keep track of him until I can send out a proper rescue team with any information they can offer me. If there are no objections I give you leave to go." "Hai Hokage-sama." Replied the two perverted Shinobi. Tsunade seemed to grow wearier after that and the two shinobi decided that it was time to go. As the door closed the Hokage seemed to visibly shrink upon herself as she laid her head upon her desk and let sleep claim her.

Author's note: Okay I am already started on the third chapter and hopefully it will be out this weekend so keep those hopes up! I appreciate criticism and will respond to your reviews if I can and if it is required or asked. I have nothing set in stone so ideas are welcome as well 


	3. Damage Control

Chapter 3: Damage Control 

Having just awoken from unconciousness, Sasuke found himself strapped to a hospitable bed in a slight haze from what he supposed were the pain killers. He could only assume that Kabuto had saved his body from Itachi and was now healing his body for the soul transfer. Sasuke, being Sasuke was going to have none of that happening while his aniki was still alive so he started to look around for a way out of his predicament.

After a few moments of observation he discovered that he wasn't in Otogakure anymore, no, in fact he was in the last place he wanted to be, Konoha. What really made it set in to Sasuke about his true whereabouts was not the 2 ANBU guarding his door and the probable 2 lookouts on the roof. Nothing changed either when he activated his sharingan so it couldn't have been a genjutsu. It was his team picture with him, Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto. He can't truly say he has no regrets for his actions, to him they were necessary. After the fight with Gaara, Sasuke realized that even with the curse seal there was still such a great gap in the power differences between him and Naruto. He just couldn't understand where the dobe got that kind of power from. Then seeing how easily Naruto was being captured by Itachi and his friend, Sasuke discovered just how much stronger he would have to get to be able to defeat Itachi.

If Itachi was able to dominate Naruto, and then him, so easily he would have to get power some other way since Konoha didn't seem to offer enough. That's when the sound four came, beat him up and offered him his chance. So caught up in his obsession to become stronger than his brother Sasuke didn't notice how similar he was becoming to the thing he hated until it was almost too late. Luckily for him Naruto was no ordinary boy and managed to survive in time for him to grasp onto a small piece of his sanity by the mere fact of surviving his attempts to kill him until he could think properly.

That small piece of sanity is what has helped keep him going through all these years. The little voice in his head that helped him not to give in to his darker desires was simply 'I am not Itachi.' Sasuke went through numerous augmentive surgeries by Kabuto's and his own difficult training program that was only surpassed by Rock Lee's and rivalled by Naruto's. He performed countless missions throughout Otogakure, which he only left with Orochimaru's accompaniment, and never to fire country for fear of him returning there. Orochimaru needn't have worried though. Sasuke felt too much shame for being too weak that he had to betray his friends because he wasn't strong enough on his own to defeat his brother.

Then came his confrontation with his brother. He had wanted to face him alone without any interference which was easily enough done since the sound four specialized in seals and barriers. The only obstacle they had to face was Kisame his partner who would be just as difficult to beat as Itachi almost. Since Orochimaru used to belong to Akatsuki he had quite a bit of information regarding some of its members and Kisame was one of them. With all the information on him Kabuto simply said that he'd handle it. Sasuke knew that he would as Kabuto could handle anything that couldn't surprise him or that he hadn't underestimated. He did manage to go toe to toe with tsunade and her apprentice before.

His memory of the battle itself was still fuzzy from all the adrenaline and hits to the head he had suffered. The only things he remembers clearly is the barrier and then going into the second level of the curse seal before he ended up here.

'What happened to my brother did I kill him? If I didn't why am I still alive, I am sure Itachi was going to kill me this time. Did the sound four interfere? Or did Kabuto? Wait a second if they had why am I in Konoha then. Okay, it seems all I know is that during my fight with my brother I was knocked out and then sometime between then and now a Konoha shinobi picked me up and brought me here.

Who could have managed that? Tsunade had promised not to interfere and that included all the ninja that were with her. Sakura must have been there too since she is Tsunades apprentice and would have wanted to save the baka after getting himself captured. ' That's when it dawned on him. 'Naruto, that Dobe must have escaped that seal and dragged me off with him as he high tailed it out of there. He was the only one who didn't know of our arrangement and that is something the dobe would do.'

But before Sasuke could contemplate further into the probability of past events a familiar masked figure appeared in his room reading the latest edition of Jiraiya's series: Make out nights.

"I see you're awake Sasuke, you seemed to have taken quite the beating. Hope you like the gift I left you, I salvaged it from your home since it seemed to just be collecting dust there." Announced the gray haired jounin.

Looking directly at him Kakashi said, "I didn't expect you to actually respond to that but saying anything right now would be welcome."

"Why am I here?" asked Sasuke.

"Because your friends have missed you and wanted you back." was all Kakashi had said.

"We had a deal! Why did you interfere!" Yelled Sasuke, flustered at Kakashi's too vague response.

"Didn't you learn anything while I was training you? A shinobi who doesn't follow the rules is trash, but a shinobi who doesn't help his friends is worse than trash." Stated Kakashi.

"..so the dobe finally managed to bring me back huh?" said Sasuke.

"My for the Uchiha prodigy you're alot denser than you should be. Did I not also tell you to look underneath the underneath? Naruto rescuing you would not have been against the rules. No, it was Sakura who did." Kakashi replied quietly.

Sasuke was stunned to hear this. 'Sakura did? How could she have gotten me away from Itachi? Is she still so hung up on me? I thought I made it clear enough that I didn't care. Dammit she must have gotten this stubborness from Naruto.'

"Where is the dobe and Sakura? Shouldn't they be barging down my door right now demanding to see me? I don't think Naruto could have learned patience this quickly, I should at least be able to hear his yelling about wanting to kick my ass by now." Sasuke said. (Author's note: No sasuke is not joking. He should at least have been able to hear him by now screaming bloody murder about not getting to kick his ass properly.)

"Sakura has been forbidden to see you by the Hokage for now until she can decide what to do with you. You're lucky you know that right sasuke? If it had been anyone else the council who have ordered them interrogated and then executed. Half the council is all for reinstating you as a genin and to offer you any incentives to stay. The hardest line comes from the Nara clan head who says that you can't be trusted and should never be reinstated as a shinobi and be jailed indefinitely. Although Hyuuga Hizashi could arguably have it worse for you. He just wants to make you a branch member before reinstating you as a shinobi." Kakashi let that implication of the Hyuuga seal be planted into the Uchihas mind.

Sasuke began to contemplate when he noticed something that Kakashi failed to mention. "What about the dobe?"

"We don't know where he is right now. Last anyone had seen him he was holding off Orochimaru to buy enough time for Sakura to get you away. He hasn't been seen since. " replied Kakashi.

'Stupid dobe.' thought Sasuke. 'Just like him to pull off something idiotic like that. That baka, why can't those two just let me be to get my vengeance, all I wanted-' but Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted by Kakashi.

"Well no matter what happens I hope in the future you can make better choices. You hvae alot to learn still and right now, to me, you are lower than trash. I tried to get through to you but I failed miserably didn't I? You've been given a second chance Sasuke. Not many people, much less shinobi get a chance like this, so don't screw it up. Besides, don't you have a clan to rebuild?" Kakashi said.

With that Kakashi started walking towards the door to leave when Sasuke quickly spoke up. "What about Itachi?"

"Oh him. Well Kabuto killed him, stabbed him in the back when he was fighting Orochimaru." Kakashi stated simply, and with his eye upturned in that odd little closed eye smile of his, Kakashi poofed out of the room leaving only a quickly dissipating cloud and an astonished look upon the face of his former pupil..

Meanwhile at the gates of Konoha two chuunins were awaiting their group leader on instructions for their next mission.

"So Hinata, what rank do you think we'll get? Maybe this'll be a B rank. Kami knows I am getting tired of all these C rank missions." Complained a dark haired boy while his horse size dog bark amiably in agreement.

"I don't know Kiba-kun. I am sure Shino will tell us once he gets here." Spoke a small, dark blue haired girl quietly.

And as if by divine intervention there arrived Shino dressed in a full length trench coat complete with hood and dark sunglasses. The only distinguishing features visible was his small nose and dark brown hair visible by the fringe left visible on his forehead. This may have seemed odd had his companions not also been quite originally dressed. The short, quiet and shy girl by the name of Hyuuga Hinata was standing on a nice warm Spring day wearing a full winter coat and tight dark blue pants. Her blue hair was pulled back behind her ears and reached just passed her shoulders leaving her bangs parted at the front to frame her face. The girl's face would not have seemed out place normally, what with her small nose, creamy complexion and full lips, had it not been for her eyes. Since she was a Hyuuga she possessed the Byakugan, the all seeing eye and this left her with a pair of lavender pupil less eyes which would have been intimidating had they not been on this rather timid girl.

The final one of the group was in sharp contrast with the others. Where they were quite and conservative in their appearances, if not a little bit creepy on Shinos part, he was loud and attention grabbing. He had red paint on his face that he thought made him look intimidating when in truth his sister put it there to bring out his eyes. The design was a simple triangle on each of his cheeks. His hair looked like he had just gotten out of bed. His lean body encased in fish net and a green chuunin jacket and matching pants that had more pockets than it had stitches it seemed. Each of these pockets were filled with weapon scrolls, kunai, shuriken, smoke bombs and soldier pills not to mention any other odds and ends that he thought may be useful.

Naturally, upon seeing his friend Kiba spoke up first with the only question that he felt was important at the time. "Oi Shino! What's the mission about? Oh, and what rank is it?"

"Hello Hinata, Kiba." Replied Shino softly. "Let's start walking, I believe some privacy may be required and we have a fair distance to cover before we get there anyways."

"Of course Shino-kun" answered Hinata.

"Understood." replied Kiba

'Oh he seems so serious!' thought Kiba 'jeez what am I thinking he's always serious. Never had a mission that we had to talk privately about before. Oh this is gonna be so good!'

So the group travelled in silence for 20 tense minutes until Shino broke the silence. "Hinata can you check to make sure there is no one close enough to hear?"

"Hai." Replied Hinata quickly as she activated her byakugan and scanned their immediate area. It was a tense few moments until Hinata nodded her all clear.

"So what's our mission about that you couldn't tell us until now." Asked Kiba.

"We are to track, find, and observe Uzumaki Naruto until a properly equipped capture team can be dispatched. This is an A rank mission given to us by the Hokage. A few days ago Naruto was kidnapped by a criminal organisation called the Akatsuki." Stated Shino to the muffled gasp of Hinata and Kiba's stunned silence. "The hokage and several other Shinobi of Konoha went to retrieve him and managed to place into disarray most of the Akatsuki for now. Naruto was then seperated from the main force with only Sakura and an unconcious Sasuke." Hinata paled slightly at the thought while kibas mind was busily absorbing this new information. "Orochimaru then came upon them in an effort to regain Sasuke and Naruto stayed back to hold him off while Sakura took Sasuke to go off and get help. That was the last he was seen. The little information the ANBU were able to derive from the scene was that Naruto and Orochimaru had tracks heading towards Otogakure before any traces suddenly dissappeared. I have been told the exact location of where the trail ends and where are to attempt to track him from there."

"B-but why wo-would the Akatsuki be after Na-naruto-kun?" Stuttered Hinata slightly.

"Oh, so that's a secret the hokage won't let you tell us then huh? Basically what you just said was all that you were authorised to tell us, unless something happens that would make us fail the mission unless we're told." Stated Kiba firmly. After years of dealing with Shino, Hinata and Kiba were able to fully comprehend his style of communication. Being not very social and thus dealing mainly with close relatives, Shino is not used to conversing with people that have lower intelligence than he has. This leads to him not being used to vocalising things that his parents, uncles and grand parents can all figure out just as quickly as if he had said it since it would seem only logical. When he speaks to a normal person it feels like he is leaving out whole ideas that he is trying to convey in his speech since he is used to them being understood innately. This took Hinata alot less time to come to terms with than Kiba since her clan practices a much less extreme version of these fractured conversations. For Kiba though, he might as well have been trying to learn a whole new language.

"Ah, I see." Replied Hinata. After getting over her initial gamut of emotions whenever Konoha's loudest ninja is brought up into the conversation she quickly analysed what Shino had said. "So there's a chance that Naruto is either in hiding, or d-dead, or has been captured by the Sound. There's another option too since if it was any of the first 3 we would have been allowed to engage him as he would come back. So whatever it is, it has to do with what Tsunade-sama doesn't want us to know about." Hinata's usual confidence when alone with her team was shaken when she considered that the boy she has been studying (she refuses to consider it spying) for years could possess or be a part of a secret that she doesn't know about.

"Let's go, the trail is already 4 days old and it will take 6 hours for us to get there." Shino stated.

Thus the three shinobi set off at a run with two of them wondering just what could have happened to Naruto while the third was fearing the worst.

Author's Note: Well, I have planned about 3-4 scenes ahead. Yes Shino communicates with bugs who are very simple but remember the only socialising he may do with them is just commands so it won't help his speaking to others. I think you'll be surprised (hopefully) by Sasukes future reaction to the news of his brothers demise.


	4. Regrets

Chapter 4: Regrets 

Back in the Haruno household a pink haired girl could be found sitting quietly on her bed in her room. On the outside it appeared as if she was simply bored, but on the inside there was a tumult of emotions just trying to escape. She was feeling elation at finally getting her Sasuke-kun back. She was somewhat depressed that after finally getting him back here she still can't see him. She's pissed that Ino has been out on a mission for the past week and she hasn't been able to emotionally unload on anyone. Then there's the undefinable feeling of sadness, guilt and fear that was mixing in the pit of her stomach that she has been avoiding thinking of since the mission.

She has been dealing with the other emotions well enough, in fact within the first 2 days of being back in Konoha. Everytime she thought about it she would just breakdown and even Inner Sakura made no comments or even any ideas of what to do. She tried training on her own until she was exhausted but couldn't afford all the landscaping bills that followed after trashing 2 training areas completely. So for the past four days she has been doing double shifts at the hospital until Tsunade found out and ordered her to take the weekend off.

Now, after getting a fitful night of sleep and refusing to acknowledge her conciousness for a good 3 hours after waking she is sitting on her bed hungry, and depressed. She would have spent the remainder of the day on her bed as well if she hadn't forgotten one thing. That one thing being the weekly sparring session she had with Ino every weekend when they weren't on missions.

One hour earlier at team ten's training grounds.

'Oh she better have a good reason for blowing me off like this! Oooohhhh I bet forehead-girl got stuck on another late shift at the hospital and hasn't even woken up yet. Hehe I should tell her that I'm sorry about suggesting a plastic surgeon for her forehead, instead I found a nice construction crew that specializes in big jobs! HAHAHA! Man that's a good one I should remember that one for when I see her.' thought Ino.

Ino thought of more insults to throw at her rival for a solid fifteen minutes until she realized that Sakura still hadn't shown up.

'This is ridiculous. She's usually here before me! What could be keeping her? Well if she's not gonna come here then I'll just have to go find her. Hm I should eat first though, I would have earlier but I thought I was gonna have a nice spar and didn't want a full stomach. Besides I think better on a full stomach, oh what am I thinking! I've turned into Chouji! Well I do think better on a full stomach, or at least that's what Shikamaru said. Or was it he thinks better of me? I should ask him the next time I see him.' Ino pondered.

With her thoughts set on getting some food then some revenge, in that order, Ino left the training grounds.

Present time.

Before Sakura could figure out what it was that she seemed to feel she was forgetting, she heard an insistent knocking on her door. Knowing that her parents wouldn't be home for the rest of the day, she was fully prepared to give the person a piece of her mind for making her get up.

Opening the door on a familiar they both pointed at eachother and screamed simultaneously with righteous fury in their eyes, "YOU..." Sakura and Ino said together.

"...look like shit." finished Ino somewhat lamely.

"Where were you today? I was waiting for you for a good fifteen minutes! Why do you look so worn out?" Questioned Ino.

"Oh crap is today Saturday? I am so sorry Ino, I totally forgot. I've been running double shifts down at the hospital for the past couple of days and then it just completely slipped my mind. Now Tsunade has actually ordered that I take the weekend off! Can you imagine that slave driver actually ordering someone to to slack off? Hehe." Laughed Sakura weakly.

"Cut the crap Sakura. Tsunade wouldn't order you to rest just because you were tired. She'd just keep pushing you so you can learn to take sleep whenever you can like she does, or that's what you told me anyways. The only other time she ordered you to rest was when..." Ino was about to say "when you and Naruto failed to retrieve Sasuke that second time when realization dawned on her.

"Sakura what's happened to Sasuke now?" Ino asked hesitantly.

"Oh Ino it's so complicated..." whined Sakura.

"Hey I've got all day Sakura. Just because we're rivals doesn't we're still not friends... sometimes at least" Joked Ino lightly.

"I just don't know where to start and what I'm allowed to tell you..."

"Well just tell me what you can." Ino said, wondering just what could be so classified that she would hesitate telling her best friend about it.

So Sakura proceeded to outline everything that happened from when Naruto was captured until she met Orochimaru in the forest. She excluded any mention of why Naruto was captured and left the kidnappers nameless, save for Itachi. No mention of Akatsuki was made since it was classified to most Jounin as well.

Once she was done Ino spoke up with the first question that had been lingering in her mind since she started.

"But why did they want Naruto?"

"I can't say Ino, sorry." Replied Sakura.

"Okay then... so where is Sasuke?" asked Ino.

"I don't know exactly where he is, Tsunade just said he was to be confined and that I was not to see him. He's in Konoha at least." Once she said that she cast her eyes downward slightly. "Naruto and I finally brought him back." She smiled faintly at this.

Ino then asked the question she knew was bothering Sakura the most. "What do you think happened to Naruto then?"

"I don't know. When I got back with Tsunade and Jiraiya he was gone. What really stumped us what that there was barely a sign of a struggle, well for NAruto anyways. Usually there are huge craters or leveled trees. All we saw was some blood, a fair bit of broken trees and 17 thrown kunai. We figured out which direction he ran off from, there was a small blood trail, until it stopped in a clearing. There he must have stood for at least a couple minutes since a slightly larger pool of blood was found. That's all that we managed to find because the trail seemed to stop there. Kakashi was too tired to summon Pakkun and we couldn't find a trace. That's all I know since Tsunade-sensei hasn't told me anything else." Sakura answered.

"Don't worry about it Sakura, knowing him he'll pop up anyday now. Not even Tsunade can keep him away from Ichirakus for long. The only reason, or so Chouji told me, that he managed to stay away from Konoha for 2 and a half years before was because he had Ichiraku ship him some of his dried ramen once a month to hold him over." Ino said

"He he I know. Kiba stole his package one month and he actually sent that big frog to investigate! That thing was the size of a small house! Man did it ever scare the crap out of Kiba! He can't even look at a toad without sweating a little anymore." Sakura laughed.

"Yeah Gamakichi was so funny. I can't believe Naruto could already summon something so big!" Ino replied.

"Thanks Ino-pig, for listening and everything. It just feels like I traded Naruto for Sasuke. Oh what am I saying! Of course Naruto is all right he's Naruto!" Sakura yelled.

"No problem Forehead girl. I'm sorry about giving you the phone number of that plastic surgeon before about the forehead reduction." Ino replied.

"Really? Why thank you Ino." Sakura accepted the apology gratefully.

"Oh yeah, I should've known he couldn't do anything for you, so I found a nice construction company that specializes in BIG jobs!" Ino proclaimed. 'Yes, she walked right into that one!" thought Ino triumphantly.

"I'd have to assume you know them after they built you a new barn there Ino-pig! By the way you seem to be gaining a few pounds, you should really train more if you want to stay fit." Sakura retorted vehemehently.

"I'll show you who has been training, I'll kick your butt so bad it'll be as swollen as your forehead, although it is awfully close already." Ino replied quickly.

"Bring it Ino-pig."

"You're on Forehead girl."

And with that they left for the training agains to resume their weekly rituals.

Author's note: Okay that will be my last short chapter. Hope you're enjoying my Fanfic. Man this was the hardest chapter for me to write. First off Ino is really 2 dimensional in the manga, and I just have a hard time thinking like a girl so please girls offer a poor boy some insight to what I may have missed! As always I appreciate reviews, especially constructive criticism. If you're gonna flame (which sadly I have received none, what am I chopped liver to you flamers or what?) please make it funny. If you want to know why they spoke so little of Sasuke it'll be explained later on (probably) but I will explain anyways now since it's not tooo important to my storyline or development. WARNING MINOR SPOILER:

Sakura and Ino just never broached how they've felt about Sasukes leaving and thus they'll be having a slight heart to heart later on about the subject when they find themselves pursuing the boy again. You'll be pleasantly surprised at their seperate reasonings. HAHAHA I am such a bastard! Leaving a teaser in the spoiler I am so mean! See you in a few days with a much longer chapter! No days set to post it. Not because I can't get it out, I'm just too laz y to )


	5. Lull Before the Storm

Chapter 5: Lull before the storm

Team eight had been following Naruto's elusive trail for several days now. They could empathize with the original ANBU team that was sent to track him. While his scent was thick and still present (For an Inuzuka or Aburame at least), due to the mixed smell of blood and sweat left behind, it was difficult to follow due to what Shino believed was a clever use of shadow clones rubbing against the original Naruto to leave a lasting scent that wouldn't disappear with the clone.

Luckily though Shino was able to send out his bugs to follow along any excess trails that they couldn't follow to see which was fake or real so they were making fair headway, although the bugs movements were relatively slow (for a ninja at least). After the first 5 or so false trails they realized that Naruto seemed to be heading in the direction of Otogakure and thus followed the path that headed mostly in that direction while sending bugs down the others.

This tactic proved to be the most successful, most of, but not all, of the time. After about a week of travel they arrived outside of Otogakure.

"Who would've thought that baka would have been so good at covering his tracks?" Spoke Kiba to his team mates. Akamaru barked in agreement.

"You need to be more observant in the future Kiba. The signs were all there at the academy." Stated Shino.

"What are you talking about Shino? He scored the lowest out of the whole graduating class." Replied Kiba with an unbelieving look on his face.

"But Kiba-kun, don't you remember when he painted the hokage monument, they took 2 hours to catch him. Or when he glued all the hitai-ates to the heads of all the graduating Genins from his first exam and wasn't found for a day?" Hinata replied timidly due to the talk turning back to the energetic blonde.

"hehe you're right, I am so glad I didn't graduate that year. So Shino are you sure we followed the right scent this time? All your bugs back from their trails? I don't think Naruto would have been dense enough just to run right into Otogakure." Kiba asked.

"Yes all of my Kikai have returned and this is indeed his true path. Naruto could have been forced in this direction by superior nin but my bugs did not discover any other trails. Did you smell anything different Kiba?" Shino asked.

"No I didn't. as far as me and Akamaru can tell it's just been Naruto the entire way." At this Akamaru growled, "oh yeah Akamaru says he could smell the same snake once in awhile. I could too but I just assumed it must be native to this part of land."

".. I see. Please inform me if anything else unusual occurs." Shino demanded. Kiba just nodded his assent, still not being used to getting ordered around by his former team mate.

Kiba had given up trying to be the leader of his team when Shino had reached Jounin rank. In the past Kiba wasn't the leader because he was any better than Shino, it was because his commands could be given to all of his team mates at once whereas Shino's had to be relayed to Akamaru by Kiba and thus it would save time. Also Kiba was more sociable and was able to lead his team together while Shino had a more authoritative style. Finally, while Shino was better at planning, Kiba was better at reacting should they ever be ambushed so it was better if he was the leader so that Hinata would not get confused as to who to listen to.

Kiba was mentally going over all these things in his head while mentally kicking himself for failing the last Jounin exam again.

"Hinata are we close enough to the village that you can check it all to see if Naruto is there?" Shino asked Hinata.

"Hai Shino-kun. I will need a few moments though." Hinata replied softly.

While Hinata's byakugan range was not as impressive as Neji's had become, it was still quite remarkable for someone her age and she could see ahead of her for about a max of 1km to neji's one and a half.

Thus while waiting in silence for their team mate to finish Shino and Kiba had begun laying out traps and preparing a covered shelter that would be easily taken down and moved should their position be compromised. Once this was complete Shino and Kiba sat down and watched Hinata as she continued her search for their target.

After a few more minutes went by they saw Hinata's eyes go wide and heard her gasp right before she jumped up into the trees in the direction of the hidden village of Sound.

'Shit,' thought Kiba 'What the hell has gotten into her! She's never been this reckless before.' After less than a second of surprise Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru were already hot on their team mates heels trying to stop her from getting herself killed.

Knowing just how fast Hinata could move if she wanted to, Kiba knew that the only one in there group who could catch her was Akamaru. With that thought Kiba sent Akamaru to tackle her.

Luckily Akamaru had managed to stop Hinata from running into a clearing that contained some sound nin training, and by the sounds of explosions and Kunai on Kunai, there was quite a few in there. Once Kiba had caught up to Akamaru sitting on top of Hinata he could see she was crying.

'What? Why is she crying? I haven't seen her crying since... hell I've never seen Hinata crying!' Kiba thought back as far as their academy days and could not think of a single moment he had seen the quiet girl crying. What could she have seen that would make her breakdown like this.'

"Hinata what..." Before he could finish his thought he saw it. Inside the clearing had to be about fifty Sound nins all fighting eachother fiercely. This wasn't what was remarkable about them. What was though was the bright blonde hair being held up by their sound Hitai-ate and the Bright cerulean blue eyes visible above his bandit like mask. Even with bandages covering most of his body from his torso to his wrists there was no mistaking those eyes.

It took a few moments before Shino had caught up. His eyebrows disappeared behind his sunglasses as he muttered silently the word "Naruto." Which just made Hinata start to sob quietly.

Kiba couldn't believe his eyes. 'What the hell?' thought Kiba. What the hell indeed. Gone was the usual look that Naruto was reknowned for wearing. In it's place stood a white robe similar to what he had seen the sound four wearing. The only differences being an Orange bow instead of purple on the back and his whole body being covered in bandages. The most striking were the eyes. Kiba couldn't think that it was the mask or the lack of the whisker tattoos (or so he thought), but his eyes just seemed to be more, intense. He had never seen Naruto look like that.

Right at the end of that Hinata whimpered slightly that seemed to go unnoticed by Naruto. Shino knew better as he saw one of the clones had left the battle and not in a puff of smoke. But before he could warn his team mates Naruto stood above them.

"What did you come here for?" He asked quietly.

4 days earlier.

In a secret room of one of Orochimarus labs, Naruto could be found strapped to a bed. Not that he wanted to be strapped to the bed but he knew why he was there. It was because of Kyuubi.

When Orochimaru had started the complicated procedure of fixing Narutos seal, Kyuubi was going to have none of it so it tried forcing all the chakra it could into Narutos system taking Orochimaru by surprise and forcing him to call upon some of his jounins to help put up a barrier to contain him. After that incident Orochimaru took no chances and had Naruto strapped down at all times, under watch by a summoned snake and binded down with chakra dampening seals befroe he would recommence the procedure. While getting the dampening seals applied was painful, compared to the actual procedure they just felt like a slight discomfort.

It would have been mostly painless for Naruto if Orochimaru had used his own chakra to seal the kyuubi, but instead opted to pull out the kyuubis to do it for him instead of being drained of chakra for a few days. Since the nine tails did not want this to happen it felt to Naruto like someone was ripping out his nervous system one piece at a time.

Thankfully halfway through the procedure Naruto passed out and never even felt when Orochimaru attempted to place his own personal curse seal on him. This was consequently rejected by kyuubi. The demon didn't mind someone controlling his host, but the seal itself was a force of corruption, which highly affronted the Kyuubi nature of outright destruction as opposed to corruption. Thus Orochimaru was forced to adapt his own version of the Hyuuga bird in a cage curse seal.

His version was stronger and sustained, albeit minimally, by his own chakra. If it was ever to be activated, or should Orochimaru ever die, then this seal would not only kill Naruto but also undo all of the work Orochimaru had done to fix the seal.

Before Naruto could even open his eyes though, in walked Kabuto.

"Good afternoon Naruto-kun. I hope you're comfortable." Kabuto smirked at this, knowing that Naruto must feel like his skin is on fire from all the kanji tattoos littering his body and face due to his new seals.

"Screw you Kabuto." Naruto rasped out from his parched throat.

Kabuto just smiled calmly at him and handed him a glass of water. "Tch tch, using such words to your superiors, it would make some think you didn't them." Kabuto mocked.

"...what did you come here for." Questioned Naruto.

"Orochimaru wishes to speak with you once I deem you able. It seems the nine tails gets quite paranoid once it's fate is connected to yours. It seems you are almost completely fit again." Kabuto said. "Your new outfit is waiting in that dresser over there."

Upon hearing this Naruto got up and walked over the dresser, still wrapped from ankle to neck in bandages. Opening it up he found a white robe with what seemed to be some heavy orange rope around it, along with his new sound hitai-ate. With his back to him, Kabuto could not tell what Naruto was thinking about. After a few moments Naruto started unravelling the bandages around his arm.

'Well this is gonna be interesting, I wonder what he'll do once he sees it.' Thought Kabuto, finding the whole moment rather amusing.

What Naruto saw when he started unraveling his bandages was alot of kanji with the words "Demon", "Seal" and "Soul". These seemed to glow like a black flame. The others were in a language that he couldn't understand and were a dark red as if they were branded in blood, which they were but Kabuto wasn't going to tell Naruto that. The tattoos coated his skin and Kabuto could not help but notice the similarity, at least in skin covered, to Sasuke's level 1 curse seal. By now Naruto had unwrapped his right arm all the way to his elbow and had started on his ankle when he suddenly stopped. Slowly he stood up from his crouching position and turned to Kabuto with a disbelieving look in his eyes.

"Do... these th-things cover my whole body?" Naruto asked this hesitantly with obvious resentment in his voice.

"Well Naruto-kun, just where the bandages cover and a little bit more..." Upon saying this he handed over the pocket mirror he brought with him so he could be the first to see his reaction.

1 hour later, over by Orochimarus main Lab.

Orochimaru was currently dissecting the body of one of the Uchiha corpses that he had some underlings steal from the Konoha graveyard when Kabuto entered the room.

"Well now, I should assume you have the Kyuubi brat waiting outside the room with you. I take it he did not react favorably when he saw what I did to fix the seal did he." Orochimaru stated with an air of amusement to his voice.

"No he did not. In fact he reacted just as I thought he would. He covered up every part of his body that showed any part of the seals you added. Just as I thought he's ashamed of them because it reminds them of his weakness." Kabuto told Orochimaru while eyeing up his progress on the Uchiha corpse.

"Hm I did not think the boy was capable of shame from the way he acted. Good observations Kabuto. Is he still easily identifiable to any who know him?" Orochimaru asked.

"Perhaps. They will need to know him fairly well and have more than just a general description of him. His hair and eyes are still visible but he has covered up his most identifying features." Kabuto replied.

"Very well send him in for his first mission. I will expect him to be prepared to leave within a month Kabuto, since you were right about his reactions then you will get to oversee his training." Orochimaru said.

Kabuto couldn't have been happier. While Naruto thinks that Orochimaru took him in to be a powerful weapon Orochimaru had other plans. Being an easily bored and sadistic man, Orochimaru likes to have fun in odd ways. Trying to start another great war because he found peace tedious was one of those moments. When he brought Naruto back to the sound it was so that he could screw around with his old team mates.

He knew how attached Tsunade had become to Naruto and how he'd be able to rub it, albeit not literally, in Jiraiyas face that he had stolen his pupil away from him was the two main reasons. The last being having another Shinobi fully under his control that could level a small country was just fun to have around.

This is what made Kabuto happy since his training Naruto would allow him to experiment on and insult the said blonde for the better part of a month whenever he had free time. Naturally he realized that he would never have the amount of enjoyment that Orochimaru would get to have, he would still gain some small satisfaction out of controlling someone that he not only respected as a shinobi, but admired for his strength of character. Yes Kabuto knew he was a sick fuck.

"You may enter now Naruto, Orochimaru is prepared to give you your first mission as a sound shinobi."

Already knowing what laid in store for him, Kabuto couldn't help but grin at the blondes back as he walked through the door as he imagined what the future held for Uzumaki Naruto.

4 days later.

Naruto had been pushing himself to his limit for the past few days now on his own. He hadn't been given a place to stay, not that he asked, so he lived just outside of the village. He slept on the ground and ate whatever he could catch, all the while perpetually training as hard as he could. He could still remember the parting words Kabuto gave him the last time he saw him 2 days ago along with the ninja supplies as well.

"Remember Naruto, if you get stronger, maybe you could do the missions without killing anyone. That's still a goal to work for. I'll see you in a few days once I figure out what I am gonna do with you."

Naruto knew he only said that to him so that they would have a stronger tool, but he was right anyways and he vowed to get strong enough so that he wouldn't have to hurt his friends if it ever came to that. So right now he was fighting in his personal clearing which he had made during his 50 clone brawls he would stage once in awhile to burn off some pent up energy.

He'd been going for little over an hour since noon when he heard a sound in the bush. Thinking it to be a curious sound nin he decided to give him a good scare so he silently left the brawl while leaving his clones fighting as if nothing had happened by using a clever genjutsu he learned from Ero-sennin to make him transparent, though not invisible, to hide his seals for the replacement jutsu.

Coming down from above he could faintly smell dog and wondered why until he landed on a branch slightly above his prey. Thankfully the mask he had taken to wearing nicely hid his slight jaw drop when he saw who it was. Standing just below him was a stunned Kiba, a crying Hinata, Akamaru and Shino whom he couldn't read as more of his face was covered than his own. He couldn't figure out why Hinata was crying but he had a good idea of why they were here so he figured he might as well ask anyways.

"What did you come here for?" Naruto asked quietly.

Author's note: Okay I like this chapter. Always looking to improve so leave a review, I do enjoy reading your thoughts and opinions on the story. Also, could someone translate Mass desert graveyard to japanese? Comp freezes everytime I try to use a website to translate. Yeah it's a spoiler to the future but trust it's pretty far away. If you don't know or didn't notice, Naruto still doesn't know Itachi is dead. Take that as you will.


	6. How grudges are made

Chapter 5: Why Naruto, why? 

"What did you come here for?" Naruto asked.

'No Naruto,' Hinata thought, 'Why do you even have to ask? Why are you here? Why is that thing on your forehead? Why, why, oh kami why?'

Throughout her silent sobs Hinata manages to choke out a reply "Why...?"

Naruto sat silent for a moment before he said, "I've been forbidden to say, now answer mine or... else..." Naruto was hoping to scare them off in anyway, he didn't want to hurt his friends but he also couldn't afford to be captured either.

Shino spoke up quickly, hoping to cut off Kiba's heated reply as he saw his team mates face change from shock to anger. "We are not allowed to share our mission objectives with foreign Shinobi. Remove your hitai-ate and return to Konoha, I am sure Tsunade will gladly fill you in on what you've missed."

Hinata was always amazed at how calm Shino could be, what impressed her more was, with her byakugan activated, she could see all of his bugs as they moved out to attach themselves to the clones of Naruto that had taken to hiding themselves around the trio. Simultaneously while watching this unfold she could tell from Shinos facial movements, no matter how slight, that he was greatly agitated to discover someone else he knew well (for Shino at least) may have potentially betrayed them all.

That's when she noticed it. Naruto's body was covered in tattoos! They were everywhere! Red and black swirling around his body... but before she could continue her inspection, her focus was abruptly brought back unto the present.

A flash of pain shot across Naruto's eyes but it was quickly hidden away behind determination, a face that had become second nature to the blond. 'What happened to you Naruto-kun?' Hinata thought.

"Sorry to have to tell you but you're in no position to be making demands and" but before he could continue the volcano that was Kiba's emotions had just erupted.

"YOU BAKA! What the hell are you thinking? Don't you care about Konoha? About your friends? Your DREAM? Oh kami, there's not a soul you haven't told about becoming Hokage. Hokage hokage hokage..." Kiba's mimicking was cut off by a sharp reply.

"SHUT UP! I know all of that, and what the hell do you know?Now just go away, and..." Naruto had paused as he contemplatyed what he was gonna say next, and that look of pain again flashed across his eyes before they hardened with determination again, " tell everyone that Uzumaki Naruto doesn't need them anymore!"

Before any of them could reply Naruto's clones had jumped in from the trees to attack, acting quickly shino had his bugs that were attached drain some chakra to destabilize them. With a large poof, the clearing emptied out leaving Shino standing in the same position as before, Hinata in her traditional Jyuuken stance, and Kiba and akamaru already having performed their beast/human transformation and standing side by side off to the right of Shino and Hinata.

"Where is he right now Hinata?" Shino asked

"He's-" Hinata started to say, "RIGHT HERE!" Naruto Shouted, dropping from his position above Shinoto kick him in the back of his head. Right when his fist connected with Shino's jaw, his body dissolved into bugs which swarmed over him. Realising the vulnerability of his position, not because of the bugs since he knew they posed no threat to him, but of the fact that Shino was hidden and he was now exposed, even in the smoke from the smoke bombs Kiba had thrown he knew that Hinata and Kiba could tell where he was as if he was standing in the middle of the street at noon.. He put his hands together and began to shout "Tajuu Kage-" but was interrupted by a "Gatsuuga!" As Kiba and Akamaru attacked him. He jumped out of the way of the first one, which to his surprise was merely a feint for the second. Reacting quickly, Naruto summoned a clone and pushed himself out of the way and left the clone to his fate. Thinking highly of himself he landed in a crouched position and was stunned when he heard Hinata behind him say "This is for your own good Naruto, you're now in range for my divine 64 palm strikes!"

"Wait Hinata!" Shino yelled from his concealment. He had completely forgotten that Hinata and Kiba had missed the end of Narutos fight in the finals. And with the law created to hide Narutos Identity as a jinchuuriki, no one ever spoke about the end at all. Shino realized he should have remembered to tell his team mates about it, but he was too excited about going on this mission that was like the Sasuke retrieval mission which he had missed. His warning however was too late.

"2 strikes! 4 Strikes! 8 Strikes, 32 strikes, 64 strikes!" With that Naruto went flying and landed on the ground a few feet away from them. Kiba began approaching him. He knew that he must be almost out of it since this combo had worked against all the other people they had come against.

'Naruto-kun, please, forgive me but I had to..' before she could finish her train of thought a familiar voice was heard

"Get out of there Kiba! Now!" There was a sudden edge of panic in Shino's voice.

'What could have scared Shino?' Hinata thought. 'Nothing fazes him, what could possibly-' That's when she felt it. The intense killer intent that seemed to be radiating from from her Naruto-kun. That's when she also noticed the orange chakra that seemed to be enveloping him in the form of some strange beast. It was so bright and intense she had to deactivate her Byakugan. It would have been an understatement to say that she was surprised to see that the chakra was still visible to the naked eye.

As Kiba turned back from looking at Shino after recovering from his initial shock he came face to face with a feral looking Naruto.

"If you won't leave, I'll make you leave!" With that Naruto grabbed Kiba by the front of his jacket and lifted hin into the air with his left hand. With his right he powered up a rasengan. Before he could plow it into Kiba's right shoulder as an incapacitating blow, and and career ending move, Akamaru jumped between the two and was hit in the side of the face with it since this startled Naruto and he had a fair bit of difficulty of avoiding a killing blow. Even with that managed, Naruto's attack was still very messy. Kiba and akamaru had been blown back into the nearest tree with Kiba taking the brunt of the impact with Akamaru on his chest. When he got his bearings Kiba saw it. Laying on top of him Akamaru was breathing raggedly as he watched blood pooling out of what was left of his mouth. About a third of Akamarus mouth was now missing with all of his teeth knocked out and his tongue hanging out of the side of his face now covered in chakra burns. There was no fur left anywhere on the left side of Akamarus face and his eyelid had been torn clean off. It was surprising that Akamaru was still alive what with all the blood coming out of his mouth.

"Hinata, Kiba, pick up Akamaru and go. I'll hold him off, I'll catch up to you later."

Hinata and Kiba, not wanting to disobey a command from their leader, and being the trained shinobi that they are quickly picked up Akamaru between the two of them and sped off.

'Oh Naruto, why?' Hinata thought.

Thus it left Shino and Naruto on the forest floor staring at eachother.

"Aren't you gonna run off with them too? Or are you gonna make me force you?" Naruto asked menacingly.

"Come back now Naruto and maybe your life will be spared-" Shino was violently interrupted.

"Spared? What the hell do I care about my life? If it... No I can't talk about it. Just go, before you make me angry again." Naruto answered.

"I know of the Kyuubi being sealed in you, if it's that I can help you." Shino stated.

"That's not even the half of it. I'm done talking now GO!" With that Naruto sent out a chakra claw to smack Shino into a tree, only to find that he had brutalised a block of wood.

Finding himself now alone, Naruto stood up, cleaned the area of any sign that there had been a fight there, and then went back to training.

Farther away looking through a spyglass on top of a tree was Kabuto who had just witnessed the whole torrid affair.

'Well my little Naruto-kun, you're proving to be more entertaining than I could have hoped for. I can't wait to see what you manage to do to the Kazekage soon...' Kabuto thought gleefully as he jumped down from his perch to report his recent developments to Orochimaru.

"...and that is what happened Hokage-sama." Shino stated clearly.

"I see, do either of you two having anything else to add?" Tsunade asked of the other two members of team 8.

"Ano Hokage-sama, when I activated my Byakugan I saw something odd underneath Naruto-kuns clothes." Hinata blushed brilliantly at this since, even with her conflicted emotions over the blonde, she still felt embarrassed discussing her crush in front of others. That and she tried to avoid speaking of how she has seen every single one of her opponents naked due to her bloodline.

"Hi-his body was covered in some strange red and black tattoos. I know they were kanji but, Gomen nasai Hokage sama, I didn't have the oppurtunity to read them." Hinata looked down ashamed, thinking she had just failed everyone due to her actions.

She had been beating herself up about her loss of control which lead to their confrontation with Naruto. She was upset that Akamaru had gotten hurt because of her. Overall though these feelings were passing since she knew, after years of copying her idol Naruto, that she would only be strong if she got herself up from this and made sure she got stronger so that it wouldn't happen again. No what hurt her the most was the thought that she would never get the chance to tell Naruto how she'd felt.

That feeling of loss and failure had only increased when Shino then informed them of Narutos status as a Jinchuuriki to explain what happened in the fight to Hinata and Kiba.

"Thanks for that information Hinata, most hyuuga would have been too absorbed in the fight to have bothered to look for something like that." Tsunade proclaimed.

This comment helped to alleviate some of Hinata's painful feelings but did nothing to remove her from her depressed mood. Kiba however had something he had been dying to ask since his sister had seperated him from Akamaru so he could give his mission report.

"Hokage-sama, about Akamaru..." Kiba asked.

"He'll be fine and fit for active duty within the month. Your sister has informed me that his... injuries, were mostly superficial save for his jaw and eyelid. She told me that she plans on doing some reconstructive surgery to replace the lost teeth and jawbone, but the only thing she can do for the eye is to give you some eyedrops to keep it moist or to remove it entirely if it gets infected." Tsunade said this clinically, refusing to speak of the chakra burns thinking that if she doesn't mention it, it would be like someone else had done it.

"That's all. Please tell Shizune on your way out that I wish to speak with Kakashi, and to send out a missive to Jiraiya, wherever the hell that old lecher is, I need to speak to them." And with that Tsunade let them out.

Author's note: Okay so I finished that one, meant to send it out last night but power went out and I went to bed. Would have been sooner but I was reading Ah! My Goddess in my spare time, it gets to be quite an engrossing read later on. Go to for most DLs of manga and type in Keiichi to google to find a good free Anime Direct Dl too, these are quite fast although keiichi anime forever tends to be somewhat unreliable.

About the story. Akamaru is gonna look pretty sweet (the inspiration came while writing the fight scene) and should cement in a grudge with Kiba that will be interesting to play out. I know this chapter seems pretty darker but no worries the following chapters will be a bit lighter, although I may throw in a few emotionally heavy ones. Next update may take awhile since I haven't decided if I should continue directly to the main plot line point or take another detour into "Sasuke's world". One thing I am gonna point out though is that no, there isn't gonna be some magic way out for Naruto and his predicament. I know he seemed fairly powerful in the fight scene but that was merely because it was a mismatch in strengths. Kiba would have put up a better fight if he hadn't underestimated Naruto while Hinata and Shino merely lacked the raw power needed to bring down someone like Naruto. If you would like an explanation of why I had the fight play out as is, ask me in a review and I'll send you a reply. Now that I know not to reply from my hotmail account you should find I reply to everyone who asks me.


	7. Every cloud has a silver lining

Gaara was quite content with his life at this point in time. Aside from losing Shukaku, (a mixed blessing, but he did love his sleep now,) his time as Kazekage had been quite uneventful and that is usually good for a ninja village. Well, it wasn't uneventful but at least they were never surprised. The past month had been one of his hardest however.

He had just received word from Konoha and they were requesting one of their puppeteers for a capture mission of one of their missing nin. Temari, who was on her yearly visit had garnered enough information to conclude that the undescribed missing nin was none other than Naruto. If his sister's words weren't good enough to confirm this fact what he woke up to that morning was.

Gaara had mellowed out from his psychopathic self over the years, with a big help from the loss of Shukaku, and he was mostly calm and collected. Scratch that, he was ALWAYS calm and collected. But not this morning. No, today the most awful thing had happened to him that even rivaled his having to kill the first person who ever loved him, something happened that threatened his reputation and ability to garner respect in other shinobi and villages. The only way to describe this life altering phenomenom would be one word: pink.

Or more precisely the colour pink. It was everywhere. Somehow during the night while he was sleeping, and he was a deep sleeper now that he could since he never had to learn to be a light sleeper (with the automatic sand shield covering him he never worried), some enemy shinobi had defiled his possessions. Simply put they had dyed and/or painted everything pink. On his gourd there was written "Pink makes me happy" In hot pink that bordered on fuschia, not that Gaara would describe it closely. His Kazekage tower had been painted pink as well, not to mention all his robes as well, along with any monuments or statues dedicated to him. Then there was all the graffiti around town that portrayed him in pink drag saying things like "We need as many hunky men as we can get to join the Shinobi ranks." Or "For a good time wear short shorts."

He was currently reprimanding his shinobi who were supposed to be guarding the village when he received a report that there was force of over 50 shinobi currently vandalising the side of their mountain wall! Gaara vowed that he would put a stop to it immediately since his villages reputation was on the line and that was just as important of a defence as any number of shinobi.

Even after losing Shukaku Gaara was no light weight ninja. Most had attributed his ability to control sand unconciously to his demon but only Gaara had known better until after he lost Shukaku and had to inform the council. The true source of this was that a part of his mother had been sealed along with Shukaku. This minor presence was the part of her soul that desired to protect her son and used her ability to control the sand to protect him and to allow itself to be used by him at will. The only thing Shukaku ever did was the armor of sand, his larger than average chakra reserves, and his demon form. It was comforting to know his mother looked out for him somehow, albeit a little creepy that an actual part of her went everywhere he did.

So while not able to assume demon form and having to place the armor of sand on himself mentally was a bit more taxing than it used to be, overall he was stronger for having lost Shukaku since he could think more clearly now. That is except for today, today his thoughts were clouded with rage.

He could just make out the design that was forming on the side of the sheer rock face as he approached it, it seemed the ninja were making a rather large statue of him that was none too flattering and were in the process of painting it pink as well. As he got closer it began to dawn on him that all these ninja looked suspiciously similar... That's when it hit him, these weren't ninjas but ninja. And there was only one Shinobi that he knew of that could make that many physical copies of himself.

Before Gaara could even get two words out one of the narutos approached with (what Gaara assumed since he can't see through the mask) was a sheepish grin. "Well isn't this awkward, I was hoping to have this done before anyone noticed but here you are hehe." The naruto spoke in a slightly nervous manner. "I am to assume that none of you are the real naruto?" It was a statement more than a question, naturally Naruto was never one much for subtlety in conversations and missed the implications. "Well yeah, it would have been rather overconfident of me to think I could get in here and make it out with what I had planned and ..." POOF!

Gaara knew he wasn't going to get anything out of these clones (interrogation would be pointless since the best methods would just destroy them) and the longer he let them distract him the closer they will come to completing that abomination. "Mass desert graveyard!" In a matter of seconds all 50 clones and their monument to pink Gaara had been covered in sand and resolutely crushed into non existence.

"I want the village gone over with a fine tooth comb so that we can find any clues as to WHY a konoha missing nin just decided to humiliate Sunagakure and I want it NOW! Also get all available citizens and shinobi to cleaning up and repairing the damage." Despite the humiliation he had just suffered Gaara's mood was starting to get better.

When he first heard from Temari about Narutos situation and the most probable execution upon his capture he had been trying to think of a way to get ahold of him himself. Originally, once Kankurou got back from his current mission he was gonna send him to konoha as their support in the capture mission and use him to steal Naruto away to Suna shortly after the capture. Since the council would never support such a plan he would be forced to rely on his siblings to pull it off.

As luck would have it though, this new escapade of Naruto's now gave Suna a claim to wanting to jail him personnally, and since the Kazekage was the one to dispense the justice to Shinobis, unlike Konoha, then he could Stave off the death sentence and try to rehabilitate him.

With the new circumstances he could send Kankurou on an official mission to retrieve Naruto, albeit Konoha would not know, with the support of a special force squad lead by Temari from the shadows to jump in and grab Naruto at the best possible oppurtunity.

Gaara knew the worst of the damage was done now and could only hope that the other nations did not ascribe this humiliation to weakness and decide to attack.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

15 miles away from Suna.

"Okay Gaara just got the last of them before they could finish "The Big Pink". Can we go now? I humiliated Gaara, can we go back now?" The impatient Naruto had been like this almost the entire time.

The plan was for Kabuto to get Naruto as close to suna as possible, have him make a bunch of clones, then to have them go out with all the pink dye and paint in order to commence Operation Cuddly Gaara Bear. Kabuto got to have some say in some of the parts but he found for the most part that Naruto's ideas had far more flair to them. Although he was a little disappointed that the big pink couldn't get finished since it was his idea, he found that there was sufficient damage done to complete their needs.

Kabuto didn't now whether to be happy or disappointed that Naruto couldn't figure out the real reason as to why Orochimaru had Naruto vandalise an entire Shinobi village but decided not to think about it too much.

"Yes we can. Wasn't that fun Naruto? Kind of remind you of your childhood? I still remember what you did to the Hokage monument. Man that was a good one." Kabuto was kind of giddy right now, honestly, how often do you get away with painting an entire shinobi village?

Naruto, however, was not feeling good at all. 'well' thought Naruto, 'isn't he just the happy camper? Damn him and that Bastard snake. At least he didn't have me kill anyone, but how long until he does? What happens if I can't get strong enough to scare away my friends? It was close when I fought Shino, Kiba and Hinata. I nearly passed out from having my tenketsu closed before I could get the kyuubi to help! Damn it, what happens if they send Sakura? What'll I do when Jiraiya comes for me, what can I tell him? God I hope Orochimaru has something figured out. Not that I really want him to come out on top...

"Let's just get going, I got alot on my mind right now and would rather be doing something, ANYTHING, than think about it." Naruto replied. With that he turned around and sprinted off in the direction of Otogakure without looking back to see if Kabuto was following him.

Author's note: Yeah it's been awhile, hopefully not too long though. This'll probably be the last time you see Gaara for awhile, or get to hear Naruto's thoughts. The action is gonna be focused closer to Konoha for a bit. Will probably update this chapter, got a bit tired at the end. hehe probably wouldn't have updated if I hadn't received that last review that kind of reminded me to. Hope you enjoyed it if you're reading it, mind you I would write it if no one read but I enjoy your feed back anyways, besides this chapter frees me up to get to the part of the story I have been dying to write. Kudos to parselmaster for catching my error. I changed Kyuubi to Shukaku. Also kudos to Plus-44 for catching the Tsunade reference instead of Orochimaru. I fixed them both.


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